"It's a very simple game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains."
(Bull Durham)

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Pirate Potpourri

Stuff happening lately:

OF Alex Presley suffered a stiff back caused by a slide during the last series against Milwaukee, but doesn't think it will stop him from going to the Instructional League in another week.

C Ryan Doumit discusses his Bucco future with MLB.com's Jen Langosch. He told her "I know the probability of me being back is probably slim, but I've just been trying to enjoy the last couple of days and soak it all in."

SS Ronny Cedeno told Langosh that he hopes his $3M option is picked up (as it likely will be). "I feel good here...If they want to keep me here, I would love to be here"

RHP Jason Grilli, who is in an arbitration year, tweets that "I have a good feeling that I will be back."

The Bucs named their minor league players of the year: OF Robbie Grossman (.294/13/56 with 127 runs scored in 134 games with Bradenton) and RHP Kyle McPherson (12-6, 2.96 with 142 K's in 161 IP with Bradenton & Altoona).

Charlie Wilmoth of Bucs Dugout says not to expect much off season activity this year and gives a rundown of the current FO's winter pick-ups over the past few seasons.

Raise The Jolly Roger's Brian McElhinny follows up on reports that the Bucs canned their entire MLB training and strength staff, including Head Athletic Trainer Brad Henderson, Head Conditioning Coordinator Frank Velasquez, and Assistant Athletic Trainer Mike Sandoval. Guess those July & August injuries took a toll on more than the lineup.

On the other hand, the FO promoted a boatload of development/scout folk like Greg Smith and Kyle Stark. Our guess is that they'll turn their attention to the coaching staff next. From what we hear, none are in trouble with the FO. We should find out for sure soon.

2 comments:

I've been saying for years that this team's strength and conditioning was badly lacking. I think the Pirates have needed to clean house in this regard for quite some time. This move was long overdue. There have been entirely too many injuries, especially constant "sprain and strain" types (Tabata, Alvarez, Doumit, Maholm, Duke, many others) that are usually the direct result of a lack of conditioning. Hurdle has said publicly more than once that the team needs to be in better shape. Methinks he took his dissatisfaction to the front office and they decided they agreed with him and lowered the boom.

That's a good analysis, Will. Sprains, concussions, and breaks are inevitable, but the rash of hammy and "fatigue" problems underscores conditioning failures.

I also think you barreled up on the winter fitness needing to get up to speed. With so many young guys, it's imperative that the team takes the lead in enforcing off-season conditioning programs instead of turning spring training into a PT camp.

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